A picture that needs a title

A couple of my blog friends (and jr hi guys) do this on their blogs and I thought I would try it here to see who will comment on it. This picture I found or it was sent to me not sure but thought it was funny and wanted to see what kind of title someone would put with it. Enjoy!

Wonderful Drama by our kids

I had a great chance to hear and watch the wonderful group of jr hi kids put on an incredable David and Golatha play. The work that was done was wonderful and the kids did a great job. It was great just to set back and watch this happen. If you would like to see some of the pictures please click on the above picture

Helping the hurting friend

I just spent some time with a new friend and fellow jr hi guy Nick about something’s going on at his church. All I can say is thank you so much God for allowing me to be at NCBC where my wife and kids are expected to be themselves and minster how God wired them to be. I praise God that thou my wife works with me in the jr hi ministry there is NO expectation from the staff or elders that she MUST be with me in jr hi ministry.

Nick has had some hard times lately where the church leadership expects his new wife (married less than 4 months) to be with him all on all jr hi events and that she shouldn't be involved in sr hi stuff that much. I've prayed for Nick and his wife today and will more.

Thank you God for allowing me to be here at NCBC!!

100 members on our Jr hi web site

We've made it to 100 members on our jr hi web site (www.impactforjesus.org). Thanks to the current jr highers, gradated jr highers, sponsors, and parents who have made this happen!! This is cool since we've been working on this web site for almost 2 years. Big thanks to the web masters and all the other people who helped make this web site useful and fun!

getting to know more jr hi guys

I have to say the past month or so has been an awesome time for me. IMPACT (the jr hi ministry I'm the youth pastor for) is going through some major changes this summer and into next year. Because of this I've been making a lot of phone calls and emails to a number of jr hi youth pastors in the nation (there are only a couple jr hi youth pastors in my local area) and it has been awesome. I've been talking through what plans I have for the changes and these guys have been giving me counsel and their time. I love the fact that to these guys and to myself jr hi kids are so important that no matter where they are, no matter who is sharing God's truth to them, no matter if they are their kids or not, they just want to help impact them more. My desire to be an 85 year old youth pastor with a frisbee in one hand, a cane in the other, and share God's love and truth to jr hi kids is stronger than ever before.

7&8 grade summer trip in newspaper

Hey we made it on to the Hannibal newspaper. Check it out:

http://hannibal.net/stories/060906/happenings_20060609011.shtml

The Tri-State Tour band

I was really moved on the summer trip this year we took with our 7&8 graders (see the below posts for a day by day brief about the trip) in one HUGE way. Tim Calcara had a group of the kids bring their instruments for a jam session. His plan was just to spend some time with the kids who enjoyed music and give them some pointers. Well with the help of Jim Bell they not only jammed but they also lead us in worship Saturday night and it was awesome. The kids just played with the desire to worship God and the rest of us got to join in. It was by far one of my best memories as a jr hi youth pastor and it will take a lot to top it. I'm constantly amazed how God works in these young peoples lives. I can't wait to see what else His is going to do.

Day 4 of the Tri-State Tour

Well it’s the last day and we are traveling home to Cedar Rapids, IA. I’ve got a few more kids here to help share about the trip:

Jordan – It was tiring and exciting at the same time. Going on the tidal wave rides at 6 flags 9 times in a row was awesome.

Trace – I thought the trip was awesome the service project was really cool. It was really cool to see all the time and effort you put into something really is great to experience. Of course the Bat Man was awesome.

Courtney – It was pretty sweet. I enjoyed it immensely. I wish it was longer though I’m exhausted.

Katy – The trip was a lot of fun. It was tiring but it was good to spend time with friends. And connecting with the water through the blog and it hurt a little.

Preston – It was a good time and lot of stuff to do. The food was great too.

Nick – I loved it. That’s it…

Jessica – The trip was a super spiffy time.

Day 3 of The tri-state tour

Ouch!! There has been some great memories today in a very interesting way. Many of the kids have had some ouchies of some kind happen today. The ouchies were caused by enjoying some awesome time on the beach. On the beach there are a number of fun things to do. Please check out Lake Williamson web site (http://www.lwccag.org/index.html) to see all about it.

Hey this is Morgan Galle pastor mark handed me the computer because we are kind of stuck in the activity center due to a storm, and tons of lightening strikes, but everything's fine. First of all, we all pretty much woke up 5 minutes before breakfast, because six flags was very tiring and for most of the adults, full of bruises. After breakfast we had fun with putt putt golf and the ropes course. Then by lunch everyone was ready for some fun in the sun at the beach. This is when most of the "ouchies" (according to pastor mark) started. The beach was a ton of fun, there were a variety of different things to do there. By supper everyone was very red, but I believe it was worth it. We were suppose to have smores and worship at a bonfire tonight, but we are going to be staying inside, thanks to some very smart sponsors who don't think it's wise to have all 70 some of us to be out in the storm at a bon fire when it's much safer inside and you can still worship God just the same(i don't blame them). So, as you may have been able to figure out, our third day of the tri-state tour has been very eventful, and very very fun.
-Morgan Galle

Day 2 of The tri-state tour part 2

Here is part 2 of day 2 of the tri-state tour trip. I have Jeremy, Jed, and Alex with me to tell you what we did yesterday.

Pastor Mark - What was one of the funniest things you did yesterday?

Jeremy - ummmm... probably the Boss. The Batman was really cool to.

Jed - ummmm... I went on some rollercoaster. I liked the log rides because I got so wet. The food was also good.

Alex - I already said stuff about yesterday on the last post. Here at Lake Williamson I really enjoy the basketball and racquetball.

Jeremy - yea the food here at Lake Williamson is really good too.

Cassandra just joined me to tell me about what was one of her highlights of yesterday.

Cassandra - doing the Tidal Wave 9 times and getting soak'n wet. It was really cool. The weather has been awesome. We also got Mark a tattoo on his neck. We wanted to put it on his for head but they wouldn't let us (Mark's glad for that as well). LOL!! it was a lot of fun.

Day 2 of The tri-state tour

Here I am at Lake Williamson with Alex and Sky (it's actually Skylar but she doesn't like that name). They are going to help me update everyone about what has happen on the 2nd day of this awesome trip.

Mark - Tell me something about the day?
Alex - Batman was awesome
Sky - ummm... hehe LOL ummm... I can't ummmm.. OH YEA !! Bret Knockle is a hazard!

On one of our first rides Bret brought a camera on a ride and he wasn't to bring it on. So when the ride supervisors saw him they stopped the ride and told him to put his camera away. Well after that they "tried" to start the ride again and it didn't work. To make a long time shorter we set there for a while 8-12 employees came and tried to get us going again. Well it was a big deal and turned out to be a great memory maker.

Alex - Then like no one wanted to ride with Bret

But others did want to ride with him so he wasn't to sad

Sky - He was put on "ground duty" for a while

Well we have to go so we are not let. I'll have to update this more tomorrow.

Day 1 of The tri-state tour

Well I'm here pool side at the Holiday inn of 6 flags in St. Louis as I enjoy conversation after conversation with jr hi kids and the sponsors. This is the first report of I hope a few about how this trip of trips has been going. I can't believe it but this is my 5th trip with 7&8 grade trips (which means the 6th grade trip next month will be my 4th with that age group) all I can say to that is thank you Lord for allowing me to be a part of such a great group.

This first day has been about traveling, working, and playing. We traveled to Hannibal, MO from NCBC where we were at 3 different services project areas. We got a chance to help a habitat for humanity home where a group of 25 mudded dry wall, dug ditches for lines coming out of the house, and general clean up. The 2nd location was the Hannibal Nutrition Center where we did a lot of outdoor yard work, and the last group traveled to a local Hannibal walking trail and cleaned it up. All three groups were planning to use about 3.5 hours to get their services projects done. All the groups were done in 2.5 hours or less. A comment from one of the people we were working for was, "We didn't think jr hi kids could get this much done, let alone do it so extremely well." The group worked until they were tired, hot, and very dirty. One young lady realized she had a pocket full of dirt in her pants after traveling in the bus for an hour.

Then it was back on the buses for the trip to Holiday inn and time of pool playing, talking, eating pizza, and general fun - fun - fun. It has been awesome. We are just about to start our devotionals in our rooms and then it is off to sleep-tomorrow is 6 flags.

The Big 3 BLOW OUT party

Well we just got done enjoying a party with our three main services groups in IMPACT - Deep Impact (a go deeper in the word and use it group), Brain Scrachers (a group focused on making wed. nights just that much better), and Sunday Stormers (the partner group who focus on Sunday improvement). Some things I'm thinking about:
1) These jr highers really worked and did servant leadership and I'm so blessed to be their youth pastor.
2) Should we do exclusive groups like this all year or break it up so others can be a part of it later in the year? They need to stay small but...
3) What is the best way to direct these groups - give them one time big events to focus on or try to help them see the big picture for the whole year?

Just some of my thoughts that I'm looking for input on. But I will at least have this for me to look at :)

Reading through the Bible

I'm still reading through the Bible. Actually I'm listening through the Bible. The plan is to finish all of the Bible by the end of Sep. Then I will read through the New Testament again from Oct to Dec. So far I've been able to keep doing this. I wonder why it is that when I set down to read the Bible about 10 different things come to my mind and I get so distracted that I can't seem to stay focused on it. I wonder why that is. My sin nature, my over busy life, etc. what do you have that keeps you from read God's word? Why do you think that is?